In Her Corner
by simplystupified77
Summary: After a nasty incident involving Damon and Caroline ensues, Stefan has Liv put up a boundary spell on the Salvatore living room, hoping Damon and Caroline can learn to work through their problems. Together, they gain insight on his feelings for Elena and her feelings for Klaus. Post 5x18.


**So I in no way ship Daroline, it's Klaroline all the way! But I am very interested in the dynamic between Caroline and Damon. I genuinely enjoy their interactions and I wish they had more screen time together. Mostly, this story is about their dynamic and a deeper, less sarcastic conversation that I'd like to think could potentially happen between the two characters. Obviously the point of discussion will be Caroline's feelings for Klaus. (I mean, come on, we all know Damon ships Klaroline ;)) **

**For the sake of this story, pretend that Markos never burned the last Traveler knife!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any TVD or TO characters. If I did, Caroline would be Queen of NOLA. **

She would never understand what Elena saw in that creep. Thank goodness she finally broke up with him. But Caroline just rolled her eyes at the thought, knowing it was only a matter of time until they would get back together.

She hadn't meant to get out of control, but Damon frustrated her to the point of no return. She hadn't planned to lash out. But then again, Damon probably hadn't meant to hurt Liz, but he had. Damon would do just about anything to save Elena's life. He had proven that when he turned Bonnie's mom into a vampire. But as much as she loved and valued her friend's life, her mother was more important to her.

Unfortunately, Liz wasn't important enough to him. Thankfully, Caroline had made it just in time to snap Damon's neck before he could hurt her. A traveler had passengered himself into her mother, whose sole purpose was to stake Elena. With the traveler knife missing, Damon had no choice but to kill Liz. He knew it would destroy Caroline but what choice did he have? He said he would always protect Elena no matter what. However, he decided to turn Liz into a vampire instead of just kill her. Just as he was about to snap her neck after feeding her his blood, Caroline was able to sneak up behind Damon and snap his neck first. Stefan and Liv were right behind her with the missing knife. It turned out the knife had been with Liv, who was up to something with Tyler, Matt, and Jeremy.

Stefan stabbed Liz with the knife, causing her to fall to the floor. Caroline quickly fed her some of her own blood so her mother would heal from the wound. Caroline felt the bubbling anger in her subside, knowing her mother was going to be alright. However, she was furious with Damon for almost turning his mother into something she never wanted to be. Just because Liz was accepting of Caroline, did not mean she ever wanted to be turned herself. Damon needed to learn to stop acting so impulsively. She couldn't wait for him to wake from his snapped neck so she could snap it again and again.

As Caroline's best friend, Stefan knew there were some unresolved feelings between Damon and Caroline and decided it was time to do something about it. So, he had Liv put a boundary spell on the Salvatore living room, trapping Damon and Caroline inside. Stefan knew Caroline would be pissed, but it was necessary. Damon and Caroline had things to work out.

"STEFAN! LIV! Let me out of here this instant! You cannot leave me in here with him!" Caroline shouted as Damon began stirring. Liv didn't move and Stefan just looked at Caroline guiltily, his arm around Sheriff Forbes's waist as he was steadying her.

"I'm sorry Caroline. But you and Damon need to learn to get along. The sooner you two do that, the sooner we can all put our heads together to deal with this traveler drama. I'm going to take your mother home. Play nice and don't kill eachother," said Stefan, leaving the room with Liz and Liv.

Damon was now fully awake and just caught the tail end of Stefan's conversation with Caroline. Wonderful, now he was trapped in his own living room with a very angry blonde.

Caroline was furious again. She could feel the rage building inside her. Stefan would pay for this later, she thought. Noticing that Damon was back to the land of the living, she took a seat on the sofa as far from him as she possibly could. Damon stood up and braced the wrath of the pissed off blonde. Instead he was met with silence. Still choosing not to face Caroline, he headed to pour himself a drink. If he was stuck here with Caroline of all people, he was at least going to try and enjoy it.

After three solid minutes of silence, he was just contemplating on breaking the ice when he heard light whimpering. He turned to face Caroline for the first time and found her crying silent tears, her fingers digging deep into his sofa cushions. Damon couldn't tell if she was angry or sad or both.

"Look Caroline, I'm sorr-" Damon began, slowly approaching her, but Caroline interrupted with a, "don't." She put her hand up in front of her, forcing him to freeze.

"Just don't, Damon. You're not sorry. You're never sorry. Did you learn nothing from Bonnie's mom?" Caroline shouted out angrily, standing quickly from her seat. Damon sipped from his glass, trying to act like her words had no affect on him.

"I was just trying to protect Elena," he stated pointedly, as if it was the most obvious reason in the world. Caroline balled her fists at her sides and scrunched her face in anger.

"By trying to kill my mother. My mother, Damon. This may come as a shocker to you, but Elena isn't the only person in the world. My mom is important too. And I will put my mom before anyone," she growled angrily, feeling her eyes turn gold and her fangs threatening to protrude from sheer anger. Damon set his glass down and whooshed over so he was directly in front of Caroline.

"And I will always put Elena before anyone. Or have you still not grasped that yet? You think I wanted to kill Liz? I didn't. But I didn't have a choice. I thought the knife was missing for good and-" but Caroline cut him off.

"Exactly. You thought. You didn't even give my mom a chance. As soon as someone threatens poor Elena, it's automatic execution for everyone else," she spat, moving her face so her nose was mere inches from Damon's. His baby blue eyes scrunched in anger.

"Yes Caroline! That's exactly what it is because I am in love with her. She's the most important person in the world to me, even if we aren't together anymore," Damon responded sadly and angrily, although he wasn't sure if his anger was directed at Caroline or himself.

Caroline felt her anger subside slightly and just peered at Damon. He sounded so dejected and lost. She wasn't sure if she wanted to snap his neck again or hold him in her arms to comfort him. She felt her gaze lower and sadly whispered to Damon, "You almost killed my mother, Damon….Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Damon felt his heart constrict slightly for the baby vampire in front of him. One second she was angry, the next she was sad. She was going to give him whiplash with all her mood changes.

"And you slept with the guy who killed Tyler's mother…doesn't that mean anything to you?" Damon retorted sarcastically, hoping to elicit Caroline's anger instead of sadness. If there was anything Damon couldn't handle, it was a friend's sadness or tears.

Caroline gasped in response to Damon's retort. He got her there. She hadn't yet sorted through her feelings about the Klaus situation and Damon was not the person she wanted to be discussing it with.

"Don't use that against me Damon. Don't you dare. That has nothing to do with this situation and you know it," she said threateningly, whooshing him against the wall with her hand around his neck.

"Doesn't it though? Look Caroline, I'm sorry, okay? Liz was my friend too, you think I wanted to hurt her? I did what I had to do to protect the woman I love. You would have done the same for your mom. You_ did_ do the same for her by stopping me. You did it for Bonnie when you killed those twelve witches."

She removed her hand from Damon's throat during his explanation and backed away slightly. She understood where Damon was coming from, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. She hated being reminded of the day she had taken twelve lives. It was something very difficult to live with. Moving to stand next to Damon rather than in front of him, she slid her back down the wall and sat on the floor. Moments later, Damon did the same.

"Look, I'm not saying I forgive you, but because my mom is okay, I'm gonna let this one go. But you have to promise that you won't act so impulsively next time. You have other feelings to consider besides Elena's. I thought we were friends," Caroline slowly said, while bringing her knees up to her chin, playing with her fingers and looking down. Damon drank in her words carefully and sighed.

"You are my friend blondie, and despite what you think, I do care about your feelings. But Elena will always be my first priority," he stated plainly. Caroline heaved a sigh, knowing exactly what Damon would say.

"Elena is everyone's first priority," Caroline slipped, before realizing what she said and then slapped her hand over her mouth. But it was too late, Damon heard what she let slip. So that's what this was about. Before Caroline could open her mouth, she felt a hand snake through hers, rubbing small circles on it.

"So that's what this is about huh? Jeremy, Stefan and I put Elena before anyone. Matt chose Elena as well. Even Tyler chose to chase after Klaus instead of be with you. I see where this is all stemming from. Now I see why you were so attracted to Mr. Original," Damon added with a slight snicker. Caroline huffed and pulled her hand out of Damon's grasp.

"That is so not that reason-" started Caroline, but Damon cut her off.

"Don't deny it Caroline. It's okay to be into Klaus. He was clearly the only guy around here who ever really cared about you. It's not like Tyler was ever around asking me for love advice about you," Damon began bluntly. She felt herself wince at his words but was curious by what he meant.

"Wait, what do you mean?" she asked him. Damon smirked and stood to grab two glasses before returning to his spot on the floor next to her. He handed her a glass of bourbon and sipped his own before continuing.

"Well, remember when I was compelled to kill Jeremy? Klaus was babysitting me down in the cellar and he started questioning me about my relationship with Elena, wondering how she could possibly want to be with me after all of the horrible things that I've done. He asked me what I say to Elena to make her forgive me. And that's when I realized, he had more than just a thing for you. I'm not stupid; I knew he was obviously scared that you would never forgive him for killing Carol Lockwood. But he clearly liked you enough to seek your forgiveness, which is something to be said for the big bad hybrid."

Caroline let his words sink in and blushed. She had never known this story. She knew Klaus was more than infatuated with her, but to the point that he would actually seek her forgiveness? It probably shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did, especially since he did promise to be her last love and all. But she couldn't stop the small smile from slowly creeping on her lips. With the drink in her hand, she brought it to her lips, giving her a few more seconds to collect her thoughts. It felt good to know that Klaus actually cared enough about her to seek advice from Damon of all people.

"I never knew that," she stated simply, words escaping her. Damon grinned and chugged the rest of his drink before adding more to his glass, while refilling Caroline's cup in the process.

"Why _did_ you hook up with him, if I may ask?" he asked seriously. Caroline exhaled and attempted to gather words to make sense of her reasonings behind hooking up with the Original. If she was being honest with herself, she had no idea why she had hooked up with him.

"I don't know…"Caroline stammered, collecting her thoughts. "I guess it's because there's always been this unspoken connection between us. He always seemed to treat me differently than everyone else and I guess I kind of…enjoyed that. I enjoyed being special." Caroline blushed at her admittance. Damon felt stunned by her honesty. He set his glass down and grabbed Caroline's hand again, giving it a slight tug.

"Then what're you doing here Blondie? If you like him, then go be with him. What's the problem?" he asked her as if it was the simplest question in the world. Caroline rolled her eyes.

"The problem is that he killed Tyler's mother. He killed Aunt Jenna. He killed thousands of other people, mostly for the sake of killing. I killed and live with the guilt everyday. He doesn't bat an eyelash. I know we've all killed, but I can't handle that level of bad. I'm a good vampire," she said with a slight chuckle at her last statement. Damon looked at her incredulously.

"Caroline, you've been a vampire for two years and your body count is already at 13. What do you think it's going to be in 1000 years? We're vampires, and we do what we need to do to survive. Although no one else would probably agree, I personally think you would be great for Klaus. He actually listens to you and if anyone can get him to stop doing such horrible things, it's you. Look at it this way, you would actually be doing the universe a favor if you got with him," Damon added heartily.

Caroline didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or be surprised by Damon's honesty. He actually thought she and Klaus made a good match? That was something no one had ever said to her before. And unfortunately, Damon did have a point about her and Klaus's body counts.

"You know, you're the first person to say that to me. Stefan tries to be supportive about me and Klaus but I can tell it bothers him. Tyler obviously hates Klaus. Elena hasn't said anything to me about it yet and Bonnie clearly isn't happy about the hook-up. But you're the first person to actually ask me how _I_ feel about it. Everyone else just looks at me like I'm crazy or that I lost my mind," she admitted knowingly. Damon internally smiled but just responded by taking another sip from his drink.

"Well if it's any consolation Blondie, you're the furthest thing from crazy. And Klaus will kill me for saying this but he calls me from time to time to check up on you. He clearly cares a lot about you. And since no one else seems to care about your feelings in this, then I'll say it. Caroline, it's okay to care about him too. If Klaus is who you want, then go for it. If any of my friends deserve a happy ending, it's you."

Caroline turned her head and looked at him clearly for the first time in what felt like hours. Was this Damon speaking? His tone was, for once, not sarcastic but serious. She felt Damon slowly brush a piece of her hair behind her ear. It felt nice and different from the vampire she had grown to despise over the years.

"I never apologized to you for all of the horrible things I did to you when you were still human, and I'd like to do that now. I'm sorry for everything I put you through and I hope you can forgive me."

Caroline arched her eyebrows as her face scrunched in surprise. She never thought she'd live to see the day when Damon actually apologized for his actions, especially his actions towards her.

"I'll forgive you if you do me a favor…" she began, pursing her lips.

"And what might that be?"

"You're the only one who supports this relationship between me and Klaus…will you come with me?" she asked him seriously. Damon opened his mouth in surprise, not expecting an invitation to New Orleans, especially from Caroline of all people. Damon smirked.

"Well, it's not like I have anything holding me back here. When do we leave?"

Caroline smiled at her friend, glad to know she had someone in her corner, even if it was Damon of all people.

**So what do you guys think? Love it? Hate it? I'm still working on my "Damon-talk"—it's not exactly easy to imitate the king of snark and sarcasm. I'm sorry if the ending is kind of sudden, but there wasn't much to add. I just wanted Caroline to know that sometimes the person who seems like your last resort, may be the most supportive one of all. **


End file.
